First, I would like to thank Loretta Claiborne and Timothy Shriver for their warm welcome and invitation to be with you this afternoon.
Thank you both for your leadership and advocacy for equity and access to care for persons with disabilities around the world.
It’s an honour to be here.
In fact, I just arrived in New York a couple of hours ago, and this is my first appointment.
Next year, the World Health Organization will celebrate its 75th birthday.
WHO was conceived and born in 1948 with a very simple but powerful idea: that health is a human right.
Not a luxury for the rich, but a fundamental right – an end in itself.
And yet three quarters of a century later, that right remains unrealised for far too many people, including people with disabilities.
More than 1 billion people globally live with a disability, and that number is on the rise.
And yet they often face unacceptable inequities in accessing the health services they need.
The results are devastating for individuals, families and communities.
On average, persons with intellectual disabilities die 20 years younger than the general population.
And they are eight times more likely to die with COVID-19 than those who do not have an intellectual disability.
People with disabilities are often left behind and excluded from meaningful participation in their communities.
When that happens, we all lose.
That’s why the work of Special Olympics is so important.
You play a vital role not only in promoting the health and well-being of people with disabilities, but also in promoting their inclusion and participation in communities.
When people have access to health services and follow-up care, they also have more opportunities for enjoying other rights such as education, employment, and the right to make their own decisions.
And when that happens, we all win.
Of course, sport and all forms of physical activity are essential for good health.
By its very nature, sport is about participation, bringing individuals, communities and countries together, and bridging cultural, ethnic and national divides.
It promotes tolerance and respect.
And it demonstrates what humans are capable of, with the right conditions and the right preparation.
WHO is committed to harnessing the power of sport to promote health around the world, through partnerships with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, FIFA, Special Olympics and others.
WHO commends the innovative Special Olympics’ Global Health Strategy to increase equity and access to health services for the 200 million people with intellectual disabilities around the world.
You and your partners have shown admirable leadership in providing health screening, interventions, clinical and medical training, and community-based programming in over 120 nations around the world.
WHO is proud to work with you.
In Ghana, for example, a partnership between Special Olympics, WHO, the government and civil society has helped to build capacity to end stigma and discrimination, and to promote the rights of persons with disabilities.
Through the WHO QualityRights Initiative we are training thousands of community health workers, service providers, policy makers, people with intellectual disabilities, families and civil society actors.
At last year’s World Health Assembly, WHO’s Member States adopted a resolution on achieving the highest attainable standard of health for people with disabilities.
They asked us to develop a global report based on the latest evidence, and to provide recommendations.
That report will be launched in December, and will help to catalyze action to address health inequities in the health sector for persons with disabilities.
Thank you all once again for your commitment to supporting the right to health for people with disabilities.
We remain committed to working with you to ensure persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities receive the services they deserve.
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Last year, I had the honour of addressing the International Olympic Committee in Tokyo, as the world’s athletes gathered in pursuit of the Olympic motto: faster, higher, stronger – together.
That motto must be ours as we work for the health and rights of people with disabilities.
We must be faster to make change;
We must aim higher for the change we want;
We must be stronger in making that change;
And we must do it all together.
I thank you.